Inevitable
Chapter 18

Two weeks later, Itachi and Amejisuto were still trappedwith the Akatsuki. They hadn’t been assigned to any missions, but were dreadingthe day they would be forced out to take innocent lives, or even worse: capturejinchuriki. The Akatsuki already had the five tails and Hidan and Kakuzu wereout getting the sixth. "Good Morning, Deidara," Amejisuto greeted asshe walked into the hideout’s kitchen. The brunette was still trying to makethe best out of their situation until they left.

"Good morning, Amejisuto," the blonde answered. Hekind of reminded her of a mix of Naruto and Ino because of the hair style,eyes, and the way he overreacted to things a lot. "Have you eatenbreakfast yet, yeah?"

"No, I'm not really hungry these days," she satdown and laid back, closing he eyes with a sigh.

"You know, I was forced into the Akatsuki too by Pain.Eventually you'll get used to being here and not care, yeah."

"I was taken by surprise from my village and friends.You were a rogue ninja anyways, right?"

"I see your point, but you'll stop caring after awhile. We'll even hold a wedding ceremony for you and lover boy," Deidara teased,making the girl blush. "By the way, how many months until you get tieddown, yeah?"

"Ten. It's theend of October right now, and my birthday is at the end of August."

"Wow, married so soon... It must be weird, yeah."

"Yah it is… It's also kinda awkward to talk about... Bythe way, how do you make your bombs?" she quickly changed the subject,letting the enthusiastic blonde to talk about how he fills clay with his chakraand uses different types of bombs for different things.

"Hello," Itachi walked into the room with them andsat next to the Ishi. He was still bitter about being forced into the Akatsukiand the fact that they took away most of his chakra and sealed it like they didto Amejisuto, assuring their own safety and making it so the two couldn'tescape or use any jutsu on them.

His future bride smiled softly, bringing him out of hisannoyed mood just a bit. He had woken up to Kakuzu and Hidan yelling at eachother about sacrifices and then what they would do next time they left thehideout, Kakuzu won his argument to go look for people in the bingo book bycutting off Hidan's head and left, leading the Jashinist to complain and curseuntil Itachi went out of his room and put his head back on his body, not evenreceiving a thanks. Not that he wanted one anyways.

"Uchiha, Ishi, come with me," Konan called fromthe door. "Pain has a mission for you." Her words sent apprehensive chillsdown their spines as they got up and followed her, leaving the blonde terroristbehind. She seemed to sense their slight panic. "Don't worry, I doubt hewould give you a jinchuriki mission," the bluenette tried to ease theirnerves a bit. Thankfully for them, she understood their point of view and was abit nicer to them.

"Your first mission here is to go assassinate this man.He is an enemy to the Akatsuki and has been sneaking around, discovering andsharing our secrets," Pain handed them a picture of a man who looked likehe was about thirty years old. He had curly brown hair and green eyes, and waswearing a Sunagakure headband, but with a slash in it as a sign that he was arogue ninja. "He's been selling information to any pitiful person orcountry that is willing to pay."

Amejisuto let out the breath she had been holding. 'At least it isn't Jiraiya,' she thought,knowing the sannin would never wear a Suna headband no matter what. He hadsomething against them, but no one knew what…

"I'm going to undo the seals that hold back yourchakra, but if you try to escape, we will destroy your village," Painthreatened before jabbing his hands forward and pressing them against theKonoha ninja's stomachs. They instantly felt their chakra flow heavily throughthem again.

Amejisuto and Itachi were offered a clay bird ride fromDeidara, who had quickly warmed up to the young couple. The sharingan userpolitely declined, as they only had a two week deadline and would make it toSuna in less than three days if they walked at a normal pace even. Finding theman to assassinate would probably take a while, though they would manage.

Once they left the hideout, they decided to run so it wouldbe over with sooner. "Man, sometimes I wish I had the byakugan," mumbledAmejisuto.

"Why don't you listen to the wind when we get toSuna?" suggested Itachi.

"Their winds are harsh. Extremely hot tempered with adry sense of humor," she growled. "I tried listening for directionsthe first time I was put on a mission to Suna, and they kept taunting me. 'If she doesn't know her way through thedesert, how come she's here? Poor thing probably can't even see or sniff outsomething that's so obviously in front of her'," she said in a mockinglyhigh voice.

"What was so obvious?"

"The stupid village was right in front of me. How couldI have known it was surrounded by a huge sandy wall? I thought it was a cliffor something."

Itachi smiled lightly. "Yah, it's weird like that.Anyways, I guess that we have to replace the man through rumors and spying."

The Ishi sighed. "Old fashioned and boring, but atleast we get away from that hideout for a while."

"I wonder... If this mission is successful, maybe Painwill let us use our chakra and we can keep up your training. There isn't anyharm in that, right?"

"They could see it as a potential threat though, butfor now let's focus on the mission." They walked and talked about randomthings, avoiding the topic of 'how to get home' because they never knew ifZetsu was spying on them or not, since he blended in so well with nature. Atnight, they curled up under trees of other hiding spots, not wanting to watchfor intruders. Besides, pretty much everyone had heard of the Akatsuki, andthey had the cloaks on. They didn’t want to become targets.

After three and a half days of walking, they hit the desert,lucky that there weren't any sandstorms at that moment. It took them half of aday to cross the desert and Amejisuto had to hold back her complaints of thehot weather and dehydration the whole time; though they did have water, theycould only have a few sips every half hour to save it.

"Itachi, are we almost there?" she panted.

"Yes, I can see it in the distance. Probably will beanother hour. We should take off our cloaks," he said.

"Or we can just flip them inside-out," thebrunette did that and it looked like she had a pure black cloak.

"Good idea. Hopefully the Hokage told the other nationsnot to attack us, but it's best to be cautious."

They eventually got to the large wall that hid and protectedthe village. Guards recognised them and welcomed them in. One of them calledthe Kazekage Gaara, who met them inside the city. "I heard you're Akatsukimembers now," he narrowed his eyes.

"I was taken hostage and Itachi had to join to preventme from being tortured, but he wouldn't leave me in the hideout withcriminals," Amejisuto explained. Gaara sighed.

"So I heard, and I doubt you’re lying since you’reextremely loyal. I assume you've come to replace a jinchuriki?"

"No, we just have to assassinate a man. Apparently he'sa criminal anyways, so it shouldn't be a problem for anyone if he dies,"they showed him the picture.

"Oh, that's Maku. Go ahead and get rid of him. I thinkhe is probably in the Land of Waves though," the redhead informed, makingthe young Ishi groan.

"We have to walk another half-day through the desertagain?!"

"We have teleportation ninja here if you want a quickjourney."

"Can we, Itachi? Please?" she turned and beggedthe Uchiha.

"Alright," he approved. Gaara called for saidninja and they came running. They ended up being ANBU, wearing strange masksthat were traditional for Sunagakure. “These two need to be teleported to theLand of Waves immediately." The ANBU nodded and performed special handseals, hitting the ground at the Konoha-nin's feet. A strangely webbed circlewith odd designs appeared around them.

The brunette gasped as the sensation of falling came overher. She couldn't see anything and she flung her arms around, trying to replaceher sensei. She opened her mouth to speak and choked when water poured in. Theywere now floating in it, and she opened her eyes to finally see that she andItachi were quickly zooming toward an island.

The ANBU member was next to them but slightly blurry as thewater pulsed around them. Soon, they were gasping for air as they lay on thesoft grass. The elite ninja vanished, leaving the two alone. "That was astrange experience," Amejisuto brushed the grass off of her clothes andcloak. Itachi did the same.

"He could've at least teleported us through theair," Itachi complained, knowing that could’ve been an option. "Webetter go replace that guy and get it over with. The sooner we complete ourmission, the sooner we can go back to moping around the hideout." A gustof cold wind washed over them. They shivered once the cold seeped in.

"Is it ok if we stay here and warm up for a fewminutes?" the Ishi rubbed her hands together to try to warm up a bit.Itachi looked at her with slight worry.

"I hope you don't catch a cold or something," heinched closer.

"I can dry us off. Wind style: Wind jet jutsu!"Wind shot out of her hands like a blow dryer and she shot wind over them,leaving only their hair slightly damp.

"Thanks," he smiled.

"No problem. I'm still a bit cold though," sheshivered again. Itachi pulled her to the ground and sat her on his lap,wrapping his arms around her.

"Is that better?" he asked. Amejisuto was blushinglike a tomato at the close space.

"Y-yah," she stammered. He mistook the stutteringas a sign of still being cold so he turned her completely around so she wasfacing him and opened her cloak. Once it was opened, he slipped his arms aroundher under the cloak to give as much warmth as he could. Amejisuto didn'tprotest at all due to her lack of voice from shock and embarrassment. 'I better get used to physical contact withhim. Soon he'll be my husband,' she reminded herself.

Soon, they got up and left to the main village. They quicklymemorised the face of the man they were supposed to kill from the picture andput it away, scouring the town in search of him. "I think the beststrategy here is to ask around for anyone with information on the Akatsuki. Itshould get us to him sooner than just wandering around," Itachi suggested.

They decided to split up and meet in the middle of townafter 10 minutes. Amejisuto looked around and the first person she asked was anold man sitting in an ally. "Excuse me, sir, but do you know anythingabout the Akatsuki organisation?"

"I'm sorry, but I only know of the name. Nothingmore," the man shook his head.

"Oh, alright. Thanks anyways," she smiled andstarted to walk away.

"Wait young miss!" she turned around. "I knowa fella who might know a bit about this organisation. His name's Muryokuna.”

"Muryokuna?" she wondered out loud. "Thanksfor your help, sir," she waved and ran off. She was lost in thought anddidn't watch where she was going. She crashed into someone and both fell on theground; the man she bumped into spilling his groceries. "Oh I'm sosorry!" Amejisuto apologised, gathering up the items as quick as she couldand helping the man up.

"It's alright. No major harm done," the manreplied, dusting himself off and taking the groceries from the girl. "Youdon't look familiar," he observed. "Must not be from around here,huh?"

"No, I'm just visiting," she smiled. "Um,would you happen to know a man named Muryokuna?"

"Muryo? Oh yah, he's the town's only ninja. Why? Do youwant to see him?"

"Yes, I'm a ninja from Konohagakure and I would like totrade some info with him," she lied.

"Wow, you're a ninja! That's awesome! Can you do anycool tricks?"

"I can do a lot of stuff, since I'm a higher rankedninja. Now, can you please take me to Muryokuna," she requested.

"Can we stop at my house first to drop off mygroceries? My fridge is expecting them."

"Sure."

After they did the small task, the man, who she learned was Damasu,led her out of town and into the woods. Amejisuto questioned him, but he justtold her that Muryo lived in a house there since he liked isolation for themost part. She stayed quiet for the rest of the walk, face-palming when sherealised she forgot about meeting up with Itachi. 'I hope he doesn't worry about me,' she thought.

"It's right over here," Damasu said, moving some largebushes between two trees so they could see the small house on the other side.

"It looks like such a quaint place," Amejisutosmiled. "Thanks. I can go fromhere." She jumped a bit when he slammed his hand on a tree; his arm infront of her, preventing her from going forward.

"Becareful," he smirked. "He may be the town's hero and a ninja, buthe's not one to play by the rules."

"Thanks for thewarning," she said nervously as she ducked under his arm and walked up tothe house. "Maybe I should go back and get Itachi," she thought,making up her mind to turn around and run back to the village. Before she couldtake a step forward, she dropped to the ground. "What's happening?" shepanicked. Someone came up behind her, wrapped a cloth over her eyes so shecouldn't see them, and also another cloth over her mouth so she couldn't screamloud enough to attract any unwanted attention. She got pulled into the houseand the door slammed shut.

The last thing sheremembered before getting knocked out was thinking 'why is it always me who needs saving?'